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petrified |
2 definitions found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Petrify \Pet"ri*fy\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Petrified}; p. pr & vb n. {Petrifying}.] [L. petra rock, Gr ? (akin to ? a stone) + -fy: cf F. p['e]trifier. Cf {Parrot}, {Petrel}, {Pier}.] 1. To convert, as any animal or vegetable matter, into stone or stony substance. A river that petrifies any sort of wood or leaves. --Kirwan. 2. To make callous or obdurate; to stupefy; to paralyze; to transform; as by petrifaction; as to petrify the heart. Young. ``Petrifying accuracy.'' --Sir W. Scott. And petrify a genius to a dunce. --Pope. The poor, petrified journeyman, quite unconscious of what he was doing --De Quincey. A hideous fatalism, which ought, logically, to petrify your volition. --G. Eliot. From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]: petrified adj 1: converted into stone 2: converted into a mineral; "petrified wood" [syn: {mineralized}] 3: so frightened as to be unable to move stunned or paralyzed with terror; "petrified with fear"; "she was petrified by the eerie sound"; "too numb with fear to move" [syn: {numb}]
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